Hide and Seek
by crystalbutterfly84
Summary: One-shot, all human, ExB. My entry into Bronzehairedgirl620 and Daddy’s Little Cannibal's 'Epic T Rated One-Shot Contest'. When the Cullen kids decide to play hide and seek one day, what could possibly happen in this innocent game?
1. Hide and Seek

**The Epic T Rated One-Shot Contest:**

Hosted by Daddy's Little Cannibal and Bronzehairedgirl620.

The rules are as followed:

1. No lemons.

2. It must be rated T.

3. It has to have a line (not an actual character) about a cannibal.

4. It has to have a line (not an actual character) about a fireman.

1. No lemons.

5. Cannon pairings.

6. It has to be a **one-shot**, you're allowed to continue it when the contest is over with.

7. Must copy and paste this to the beginning of every story you enter (you're allowed up to two entries, collaborations are accepted).

1. **No lemons.**

For more information PM either Daddy's Little Cannibal or Bronzehairedgirl620. The contest ends June 6, 2009 at 11:59 MST. All entries must follow the rules listed above.

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**My entry for 'The Epic T Rated One-Shot Contest' hosted by ****Daddy's Little Cannibal and Bronzehairedgirl620. ****It's my first one-shot and I hope you like it. It's based on one of my friends' experience and I thought it was just so sweet so I decided to write about it. Here it goes…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight Saga.**

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**Hide and Seek**

"Let's play hide and seek!" Emmett shouted enthusiastically.

I groaned at the mere thought of it. "Em, we're fifteen for heaven's sake. I think we've outgrown hide and seek," I pointed out.

"Come on Bella, it'll be fun," he pouted. "When was the last time we all played hide and seek?"

"Two weeks ago when you suggested it then, remember?" I rolled my eyes.

Here I was on a Sunday afternoon at the Cullen household with my friends Emmett Cullen, his sister Alice Cullen, Alice's boyfriend Jasper Hale and his twin sister Rosalie, who also happened to be Emmett's girlfriend. Carlisle and Esme Cullen, their parents, were out at one of Carlisle's many medical conferences he attended regularly as a leading expert in the field of medicine. I practically lived at their place and they were both like second parents to me.

I don't know why the Cullens bothered to live in a such a boring place like Forks. They could live in a much better and more expensive town, that was for sure. I mean, their house was more like a mansion and it was right on the edge of the forest, complete with a stream running behind the house through what was essentially an open backyard.

My friends and I had met at the local high school when I came to live in Forks around two years ago with my dad. My parents were divorced and I had, until two years ago, been living with my mom Renee in Phoenix.

"All in favour of playing hide and seek?" Emmett asked the group. Everyone put up their hands except me. Damn, five to one.

"Sorry Bella, looks like we're playing," Alice said happily like the overly excited pixie she was. She even looked like one, what with her black short, spiky hair.

"Fine," I sighed, knowing that I would be roped into playing even if I resisted.

But seriously, couldn't we play Pictionary or something like that instead? Drawing a man-eating cannibal would probably be easier than hiding from my friends, especially if Alice was the one 'seeking'.

"Okay, rules are no going into the forest, stay in the house only. Everywhere else is fair game," Alice instructed.

"Bags not being the seeker," Rosalie said immediately. Quickly, everyone else said the same thing except poor Jasper who was designated the role of seeker.

"Don't forget to count to ten!" Emmett shouted as he ran off.

"And no cheating by going one, two, three, ten!" Rosalie added to her twin.

Jasper rolled his eyes and put his hands over them while everyone ran off in different directions.

"One… two… three… _four_," he began to count.

"Come on, let's go find somewhere to hide," my last friend said, grabbing my hand and pulling me up the staircase. I smiled at the warm tingling feeling that I always got whenever he touched me.

We ran up the staircase to the third floor and he opened the door to the unused playroom. No one ever used it and it was mainly filled with old toys from the Cullen kids' childhood. It was more like a storeroom than anything else. The blinds were closed, only letting little golden shafts of light in. It was a rare sunny day in Forks. I liked the sunny days. Good things always seemed to happen to me on sunny days.

We walked in, closed the door and sat down on the floor, facing each other. I looked into the emerald green eyes of my best friend.

When I arrived at Forks High School, no one wanted to talk to me. I think they saw me as some weird kid from Phoenix who they didn't want to hang out with. Add to the fact that my father was the Chief of Police in town and there had probably already been some wild gossip about me – the long lost daughter finally returning to her father. Yeah, being a town with a population of not many people, they probably didn't have too much to talk about.

So I had spent most of the morning of my first day by myself. That is until I got to Biology. That's when I got partnered with him. Edward Cullen.

That first day in the lab had been nothing short of… electric. We hit it off immediately and found out that we shared many things in common, including the fact that we had both just moved to Forks. I had been so happy to find out that I wasn't the only one who was being talked about, as horrible as it sounds. His family was also seen as a little strange since the townsfolk thought it was odd that Carlisle and Esme had children who were thirteen when they looked like they were in their mid-twenties.

At one point during the lab, his fingers just brushed against my hand and I swear I felt a jolt of electricity pass through me. It was like an electrical surge, passing through me.

I didn't know what to think of it so I passed it off at the time as a build up of static, nothing else.

At lunch that day, I met the rest of his family and loved them immediately. They even invited me to go camping with them that weekend (although it ended horribly. Emmett apparently thought it would be… interesting to dangle a spider from above me with a fishing rod while I was in the shower).

We became best friends, him having been the only person to show me kindness that first day. I could tell him anything and we shared so much as the closest of friends.

A few months later, we met Jasper and Rosalie and since then, the six of us have stuck together. Soon enough, Jasper and Alice and Emmett and Rosalie hooked up, leaving Edward and I the only single ones of our group.

It is often awkward when the six of hung out. The two couples being all… coupley made us seem like the two fifth-wheels. Okay, technically two fifth-wheels is impossible but you get what I mean.

I know for a fact that Emmett and Jasper have had a bet going on for a long time, bettinh when Edward and I would hook up. They saw it as inevitable and maybe it would be if it wasn't fact that I didn't know if Edward shared the same feelings as I did.

I can pinpoint the exact day I realised I was in love with my best friend. It was a day not unlike this when we were 'hiding' from the rest of our friends (see, hide and seek is a common game we play with each other) and we had decided to ditch the game and we snuck out and went for a walk in the forest. We kept walking, just enjoying each other's company away from the prying eyes and ears of our friends, and eventually stumbled on a beautiful meadow.

It was another rare sunny day in Forks so the meadow was bathed in golden light with the grass sparkling from the recent rain like diamonds in a inky sky. Edward had picked on of the many flowers and laced it in my hair. I remember blushing as he did so, something I did frequently around him.

We sat down and stayed there until the sun went down. And as we were walking away, Edward said sadly, "Twilight again. Another ending. No matter how perfect the day is, it always has to end."

And that's when I realised I loved him. He didn't see the world like other people did. He was different to those guys who wolf-whistled at me in the corridor, to those jerks who cared about nothing more than the sport scores on the weekend. He was an intelligent, kind, handsome, respectful and different person.

And I fell in love.

That was a year ago.

I've been in love with my best friend for a year.

And I've never told him.

Alice and Rosalie know of course. Every single day all I talk to them about Edward, Edward, Edward. What we talked to each other about, what he said to me, what I said to him, what we did together. I know they're sick of it by now but I can't help myself. Edward has become a central part of my life.

They've told me for ages that I need to confront it about him but I don't know if I can. I'm afraid that if I do, things will become really awkward between us. And I don't know if he feels the same way about me.

"I don't think they'll find us here," Edward whispered to me.

"Yeah, bet you anything Emmett is found first," I whispered back just as we heard a roar from downstairs.

"That idiot," Edward laughed silently, his bronze locks moving around him. "Everyone knows he always hides in the downstairs shower with the curtain closed."

We laughed together for some time and when we stopped, I decided to get up and started looking around the room. I had only been in this room once before and I wanted to properly look at all the things from Edward's childhood here. Anything connected with Edward was important to me.

"What's this?" I asked, pulling out something which vaguely resembled a doll. Its head was too big though and its legs were at different angles and it was dressed in red and yellow.

"Oh god. Don't look at that, Bella," Edward groaned, putting his face in his hands. "I can't believe Esme kept that. I told her to throw it out years ago. It was a project I had to do in primary school. We were meant to make a doll of a job that we wanted to do when we grew up."

"But what is it?" I asked, still confused. It didn't resemble any kind of profession to me.

"Can't you tell?" he asked, slightly offended. "It's meant to be a fireman. I wanted to be a fireman when I was a kid. You know, saving pretty girls from burning buildings."

"Oh, so even as a little child you were a charmer." I shook my head, turning so he didn't see my smile. "You must have broken so many girls' hearts, Edward."

"Oh yeah, that's me, breaking girls' hearts where ever I go," he said sarcastically. I bit my lip, knowing how true that statement was. If I only I sucked it up and told him…

"But seriously, how is it meant to be a fireman? It looks more like a red and yellow blob of an alien to me," I said instead.

"Hey," Edward defended, "I was seven years old with little co-ordination. My sewing skills left a lot to be desired."

I giggled and put the 'doll' back and sat back down with him, trying to be quiet. But, predictably, I tripped over the rug lying on the ground.

I closed my eyes and waited for the impact with my dear old friend the ground, but it never came. Instead, I opened one eye and found myself wrapped in Edward's arms. He had saved me from the fall and had an odd expression on his face as he looked down at me.

"Um, nice save?" I asked.

He nodded mutely and set me back on my feet. He wrapped his arms around me and drew me close to his own body, I could feel the heat rolling off of him, and I threw him a questioning look.

"So you don't fall again," he chuckled with a serious undertone.

At that moment, we heard footsteps outside the door and both our eyes widened. We both quickly jumped into the pile of cushions behind us and hid inside them.

I looked in between the cracks and saw the door open just a little bit, letting a sliver of light into the otherwise dark and dusty room.

"Do you think they could be in here?" I heard Rosalie asking.

"Maybe," I heard Jasper reply as I saw him enter the room, looking around and behind boxes.

Oh no, they were going to find us!

Edward was so close to me at this point, behind me having jumped into the cushions before me, that I could feel his warm breath on the back of my neck. It really tickled and I felt his hand reach for mine as he tried to calm me down.

At that point, I saw Alice look straight at the pile of cushions we were suddenly hidden in, locking eye contact with me, and she suddenly shouted, "No! I don't think they're in here!"

She grabbed Jasper and Emmett's hands and dragged them out.

"But…" I heard Jasper stutter.

"Let's check outside. Maybe they broke the rules again like that time before," she said over him. I had no doubt that this more of a plot to get me and Edward alone than anything. Whatever it was, I was thankful to her. It was hard to get even a moment's privacy in the Cullen house.

We waited for a few minutes before moving; we wanted to be completely sure that they were not coming back.

"That was close," Edward whispered from behind me.

"Yeah," I replied.

I turned around as much as I could without falling out of the pile of cushions and was surprised to see him so close to me, his emerald eyes darker than I'd ever seen them before.

I made an involuntary squeak of surprise before I could help myself and Edward quickly placed his hand over my mouth to silence me.

"Shh," he said quietly. "Stay quiet, Bella. Do you want to be found again?"

"Sorry," I mumbled. "I don't know how to stay quiet."

"Want me to help you?" he whispered, his eyes smouldering.

My eyes widened and my breathing increased rapidly as Edward moved closer to me. And even closer still.

And then our lips touched.

Nothing could have prepared me for the sensations and overwhelming emotions I felt when Edward's lips touched with mine. All the bottled up emotions I had felt for him in the last year came pouring out and I threw all my passion and love for him into that kiss.

I don't know how long we stayed like that, kissing each other with everything we had. Neither of us could stop the strength of the kiss and neither of us wanted to stop it. And no one came looking for us.

Eventually though, we broke apart.

"Wow," Edward breathed, panting slightly.

"I don't think 'wow' even covers it," I said honestly.

"Then what does?" he teased.

"Try amazing, mind-blowing, unimaginably magical."

"I think that works," he chuckled, throwing me one of his trademark crooked grins.

We stayed quiet for a moment and I shifted my body position so that he was forced to wrap his arms around me. He did and he played with a strand of my hair as we both lay togeter, covered by the cushions.

"So what now?" I asked after a pause, disturbing the comfortable silence between us. Silences with Edward were never awkward, we never needed to fill the silence with unnecessary chatter.

"I don't know," he said, a rare statement for Edward. Ever since I met him, I had noticed he had a tendency to over-think everything. And I mean _everything_.

"I guess there's only one thing left for me to do. But I wanted to this another way. I was planning on doing something really big for this, something that would really grab your attention," he sighed, running his hands through his hair. "But I guess there's really no point now."

"Point to what?" I asked curiously, turning around to look at him.

He took my hands in his face gently, ever so gently. Like I was made out of glass and could break with a single touch. Like I was the most precious thing in the world. He ran his thumbs over my eyes, my cheeks, my lips, delaying whatever he was about to say.

"Bella," he said, his voice full of some raw emotion I couldn't place. "Isabella Swan, I love you."

I stopped breathing. I really think I did.

"I've loved you for so long but I've never had the guts to say it," Edward continued on. "And it never felt like the right time to say it and I just never did. But, god, I've been in love with you for ages. Every little thing attracts me to you. The way you bite your lip when you're thinking hard about something, the colour on your cheeks when you blush, your smart mind, your kind and loving heart. I love you Bella, always have and always will."

He paused, waiting for me to say something. I was still gaping at him, speechless.

"Bella–" he started.

"Edward," I cut him off. "You love me?"

He nodded his head furiously.

I grabbed his face roughly and kissed him passionately instead, not able to find my voice after his emotional speech.

"Edward," I said once we broke apart, "I love you too. I've loved you for so long."

"Me too," he smiled. "I can't believe you actually love me, I was preparing myself for this whole rejection. I really regret not doing it any sooner."

"Yeah same, my only regret is that I haven't told you sooner. If I'd known if you loved me as well, we could have a lot longer together."

"Yeah, we're both idiots," Edward laughed.

I sighed and settled back into his warm, inviting arms, closing my eyes and at peace in the arms of the person I loved most in the world.

"Bella, will you be my girlfriend?" Edward asked out of the blue.

"Mmm, okay," I smiled.

"Really?" he asked again, the surprise in his voice clear.

"Yeah, really."

"I'm just surprised that you agreed so readily. Are you really sure?"

"Edward, if you keep saying that, I might start to think that you don't want me," I teased.

"Never. I will always want you."

"Hmm, how are you going to prove that?"

"I don't know, Ms. Swan. What do you suggest?"

"How about another kiss?"

"Your wish, my command," he chuckled before obliging.

"You know what this means though, right?" I asked once his lips left mine reluctantly.

"What?"

"Now we have to face everyone else. You know how they're going to be. God, Alice has been bugging me for ages, telling me that you liked me and that we'd one day be together. I never believed her though."

"Did she really? Well, she's always had a knack for knowing those sorts of things."

"I have loved you for a long time though."

"Bet you I've loved you for longer," he smirked.

"Bet not."

"Bet so."

"Not."

"So."

"Fine, I've loved you for a year," I said, challenging him.

"No competition at all, Bella," he smirked once again, bending down so he could kiss my ear. My train of thought predictably started to wander but I forced myself to stay on track and not let myself get distracted by him.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I've loved you ever since I saw you two years ago."

"Love at first sight?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Mmm hmm. But does it really matter, Bella? What matters is now. The present. We've wasted so much time apart and now that I finally have you and you I, I am never going to let you go."

"Forever," I murmured in agreement as he gently bent down to kiss me once more.

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**AN: I love this, totally, totally love it. Seriously some of my better writing. I'll write some more one-shots when I get ideas for them because I think they're a lot easier to write than actual stories. But that doesn't mean I'm going to give up writing my stories just yet. No way!**

**Like I said, based off one of my friends. She'd liked this really close friend of hers for a year or so and totally bugged the rest of us talking about him all the time. Then one day, they were sitting in the playroom, playing hide and seek and hiding and he asked her to be his girlfriend. Turns out he'd liked her for as long as she had, even longer. Now they're together and she STILL won't stop talking about him! Lol.**

**Please leave a review if you liked it and vote for this story when the competition starts! Thanks for reading!**

**~crystalbutterfly48**


	2. Voting starts

Hi everyone. First of all, thanks for all the awesome reviews for this one-shot. It means a lot to me. :D

I just wanted to let everyone know that voting for the **Epic T-Rated Contest** will start on the 22nd of June and will run to 26th of June. The voting goes a bit like this...

_Round one_:

June 22nd-26th. All stories will be included.

_Round two:_

June 29th-July 3rd. The top 30-40 stories (half) from round one will be included.

_Round three:_

July 6th-10th. The top 20-30 stories (half) from the second round will be included. 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will be determined.

So please vote for this story if you liked it! I would really appreciate it if you did since this is my first one-shot and I am pretty proud of it. If you liked it as well, you know what to do! The voting will be as a poll on **Bronzehairedgirl620**'s profile - link on my profile. Thanks once again for the support and please read my other stories as well. THANKS!

~crystalbutterfly48


	3. Round 2 voting

Hey guys! Yes, I'm still on holiday but I have found internet access! YAY!

Just a quick note to say...

**THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR VOTING!**

Thanks to all my wonderfully amazing, fantastic, extraordinary, and any other synonym you can think of readers, 'Hide and Seek' has gotten into Round 2 of the 'Epic T Rated Contest'! Voting for Round 2 has already started so please go to **Bronzehairedgirl620**'s profile to vote (link up on my profile).

Thank you once more for your votes. This means so much to me and it was a great surprise when I opened up my emails to see that this one-shot had made it.

I haven't found time to write anymore of my two stories but I think when I eventually come back and do, I'm going to update extra chapters as thanks to everyone. So please, go vote again and if - hopefully - 'Hide and Seek' makes it to Round 3, please vote then as well.


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